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allabootmatt
Senior Member
These new haulers look like something out of the 1950s...
...which for rail transit in Canada makes them seem rather futuristic.
...which for rail transit in Canada makes them seem rather futuristic.
JasonParis
Moderator
GO Transit gets powerful new locomotives
Jan 15, 2008 05:39 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Even Premier Dalton McGuinty couldn't make the GO trains run on time for a big announcement about increasing ridership.
McGuinty was 17 minutes late pulling into Toronto's Union Station today in the first of 27 powerful new locomotives the government is purchasing for GO Transit.
"I had the opportunity a few moments ago to fulfil a boyhood dream – always wanted to be a train engineer," McGuinty said after disembarking.
The province has spent $143 million on the fuel-efficient MP40 locomotives, which are able to pull longer trains carrying about 300 additional passengers.
Sixteen of the new locomotives will replace existing engines, while 11 will be added to expand the GO fleet.
"The MP40 they tell me is quieter, faster, stronger, more reliable and more efficient," McGuinty said.
"That means it's great news for parents who are trying to get home to their kids, and for the economy because it will allow us to move people around even more quickly."
McGuinty said the announcement would benefit commuters in Toronto and as far out as Hamilton, which has been calling for hourly service for decades. But the premier could not say when hourly service would be extended to Hamilton, and he instead touted his government's long-term transit plan.
"We've got a very dramatic investment in GO trains and in public transit generally through our MoveOntario 2020 investment," McGuinty said.
"In the grand scheme of things, our plan would be considered very, very aggressive."
McGuinty said the province wants the federal government to kick in one-third of the cost of public transit projects like new GO trains, noting the province is paying two-thirds of the cost by picking up the tab for municipalities.
"I had a good discussion a few days ago with Prime Minister Harper on this score," he said. "His position was that he's already making investments in infrastructure in Ontario, and he's still prepared to consider his support for MoveOntario 2020.
"I remain optimistic about the feds coming to the table with their one-third, but we're prepared to move with our two-thirds as soon as possible."
Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said the new locomotives will help GO Transit increase ridership from its current level of about 200,000 passengers each weekday.
"Up to 30,000 more passengers every day, once all 27 new locomotives are in service," Bradley said. "This is a sound investment that will pay Ontarians back for generations to come by reducing congestion on our roads and improving the air that we breathe."
The first of the new locomotives will be in service in about two months, with all 27 expected to be hauling commuters in two years.
Jan 15, 2008 05:39 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Even Premier Dalton McGuinty couldn't make the GO trains run on time for a big announcement about increasing ridership.
McGuinty was 17 minutes late pulling into Toronto's Union Station today in the first of 27 powerful new locomotives the government is purchasing for GO Transit.
"I had the opportunity a few moments ago to fulfil a boyhood dream – always wanted to be a train engineer," McGuinty said after disembarking.
The province has spent $143 million on the fuel-efficient MP40 locomotives, which are able to pull longer trains carrying about 300 additional passengers.
Sixteen of the new locomotives will replace existing engines, while 11 will be added to expand the GO fleet.
"The MP40 they tell me is quieter, faster, stronger, more reliable and more efficient," McGuinty said.
"That means it's great news for parents who are trying to get home to their kids, and for the economy because it will allow us to move people around even more quickly."
McGuinty said the announcement would benefit commuters in Toronto and as far out as Hamilton, which has been calling for hourly service for decades. But the premier could not say when hourly service would be extended to Hamilton, and he instead touted his government's long-term transit plan.
"We've got a very dramatic investment in GO trains and in public transit generally through our MoveOntario 2020 investment," McGuinty said.
"In the grand scheme of things, our plan would be considered very, very aggressive."
McGuinty said the province wants the federal government to kick in one-third of the cost of public transit projects like new GO trains, noting the province is paying two-thirds of the cost by picking up the tab for municipalities.
"I had a good discussion a few days ago with Prime Minister Harper on this score," he said. "His position was that he's already making investments in infrastructure in Ontario, and he's still prepared to consider his support for MoveOntario 2020.
"I remain optimistic about the feds coming to the table with their one-third, but we're prepared to move with our two-thirds as soon as possible."
Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said the new locomotives will help GO Transit increase ridership from its current level of about 200,000 passengers each weekday.
"Up to 30,000 more passengers every day, once all 27 new locomotives are in service," Bradley said. "This is a sound investment that will pay Ontarians back for generations to come by reducing congestion on our roads and improving the air that we breathe."
The first of the new locomotives will be in service in about two months, with all 27 expected to be hauling commuters in two years.
junctionist
Senior Member
That is some great political optimism. We're all sure that the improvements shall be noticeable and will be bring us prosperity
. Quantitatively, he's right, because any investment in public transit will bring at least minimally good results.
ShonTron
Moderator
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Bah. They're missing pantographs.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
Well we're mising more than pantographs (overhead lines to supply power?), but this is still good news. We will soon be seeing 12-car trains, and maybe there will also be fewer trains cancelled for reasons of "equipment failure".
Looking forward to seeing one of these in service.
Looking forward to seeing one of these in service.
ShonTron
Moderator
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I'm sorry, but 12 car trains isn't a "solution" I'm looking forward to.
If you thought getting out of a GO Transit parking lot was bad before, you've have to try it when there's 20% more people trying to do the same thing every 30 minutes.
If you thought getting out of a GO Transit parking lot was bad before, you've have to try it when there's 20% more people trying to do the same thing every 30 minutes.
Chuck
Senior Member
12 car trains won't help when the wait can still be 30-45 minutes for the next train on some lines, even in rush hour. I'd rather have twice as many 6 car trains, running every 15 minutes.
Enough with this family crap. What do they have against single people? As if the new Family Day wasn't enough. I'd rather it have been called Get wasted on Sunday night, day.
Enough with this family crap. What do they have against single people? As if the new Family Day wasn't enough. I'd rather it have been called Get wasted on Sunday night, day.
lordmandeep
Banned
I agree, however until they change their whole system to allow capacity for more trains, I think we are better off with longer trains for now.
drum118
Superstar
I agree!!
Sure GO is saving some money by not having another train every 15-30 minutes, but 12-16 cars have huge impact on cars trying to leave the GO lots as well on the streets. Having huge numbers of riders been drop off at a major stop cause gridlock on the various roads leading from the GO lots moreso, than the local traffic in the first place.
Having 10 12-16 car trains arriving at Union within minutes of each other has a major impact not only getting off the trains as well in the PATH and on the surface. These riders already spend over 5 minutes trying to get off the platforms today with only 6-10 car trains.
Union can only handle 100,000 riders a day.
GO "NEEDS" 2 tracks 100% for themselves to allow them to operate shorter trains every 5 minutes on the Lakeshore for local and express service at peak time and max 20 minutes off peak. The same would apply to other lines, but the headway would be longer to a max of 20 minutes.
By going with better headway will require more labour, but with shorter trains you can get away with 2 man crews.
By offering max 20, you are spreading the load out to dealing with the overcrowding on GO in the first place as well at the stations.
It will start to meet riders needs more than it does today.
I don't know in detail for the other lines, but Lakeshore has gone to the dogs the last 6 months. I cannot count on GO to get me to/from within the 1 hr window anymore to the point I see delay or cancel of service weekly under GO control and have to wait an extra hour for that next train.
I hope Premier Dalton McGuinty had a first hand view of what riders have to put up on a daily base for his photo opp.
Premier Dalton McGuinty needs to get his checkbook out so GO can start ordering a lot more equipment than what plan for the next 5 yrs as well upgrading all rail line for 2 tracks in place of 1 with them solely use by GO.
At the same time, GO needs to get their head out of the sand and look at equipment that will service the off peak time better than today. Don't need 10 car trains for off peak service today.
GO needs to start looking a 7/24 service on various routes also. Could not spend New Years in Hamilton as there is no service back to Port Credit after 2300 in the first place even when service is free.
At the end of the day, if you want car people to use transit, it must meet their needs a close to possible and 60 minutes or 30 minutes doesn't cut it.
It also time to do some house cleaning at GO as there is no accountability there today.
GO also needs to start looking at setting up more station in 416 to help to take some of the load of TTC. This is were the 3 type of service comes into play for GO and the type of equipment need also. Stations space closer than what there to day both for the 905 and 416 would be local service. The current off peak services would be mid express follow by the various types of express service in place or plan. Then there is the need for the same fare structure of 416 used by TTC for the local service and the ability to freely transfer between the 2.
OH!! time to reduce the existing parking lots by investing in local transit as well building no lots for new stations in the fist place. "Green" comes to mind.
One video show the new loco pushing a 12 car train by itself for the first time. It needs riders on it or more cars added to it to see if it can push/pull a full train in the first place before going into service. I hate to see this loco go into service to suffer the same problem that we see today with equipment failure as it was not tested for that max load in the first place.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
GO needs to start taking ownership of the tracks that it builds. It's insane to spend hundreds of millions of public dollars on new tracks and then just hand them over for free to the freight railways, who then tie up those tracks with their own trains and even charge rent for their use. GO should buy all the minor freight corridors outright and, as Lord Mandeep said, maintain at least two tracks for their exclusive use on all other lines. Newmarket Sub and Uxbridge Sub should be both double-tracked with an industrial siding where needed. No freight line in the city needs more than a single track with decent sidings, so triple-tracking on the Halton, Kingston, Oakville, and Galt subs should be more than sufficient.
299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
Well the biggest irony of this whole news conference was the fact that Dalton's train arrived 17 minutes late.
And drum118 - it's 24/7, not 7/24.
And drum118 - it's 24/7, not 7/24.
lordmandeep
Banned
Yes Union station actually know gets overcrowded with people in the morning from 7am to 8:30 am.
If like two trains come from lets say Lakeshore West and Georgetown, you literally start to have huge pedestrian jams in the station. One train carries 3000 people right? 2 trains at that is 6000 people entering and leaving the station at the same time??
One time I remember 4 trains came at the same time, wow!
If like two trains come from lets say Lakeshore West and Georgetown, you literally start to have huge pedestrian jams in the station. One train carries 3000 people right? 2 trains at that is 6000 people entering and leaving the station at the same time??
One time I remember 4 trains came at the same time, wow!
nfitz
Superstar
Are you sure? On most GO rail routes, 7-hours of service over the day, 24 days a month, would be an improvement!
unimaginative2
Senior Member
The new West Concourse at Union will double the capacity of the station, so that should be enough to accommodate traffic for the next little while. Much of GO's future expansion should be coming during off-peak periods, so riders will be more spread-out throughout the day rather than cramming everybody into two two-hour periods.